


The Fall

by CrunchySalad



Series: The Reno Rufus Diaries [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Drama, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-14
Updated: 2010-06-14
Packaged: 2017-10-19 10:34:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/199892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrunchySalad/pseuds/CrunchySalad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to The Rise. After attempting to kill his father, Rufus is put under house arrest. During his three-year term, he grows into the man who will eventually be Shinra president.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. House Arrest

**Author's Note:**

> Most of this fic takes place during the events of Before Crisis, though the ending will jump to the events after Final Fantasy VII and before Advent Children.

Ten-year-old Rufus Shinra made his way through his family's country estate. Located just an hour's helicopter ride from Midgar, the town it was situated in had sprung into existence only when his father had decided it would be a nice spot to weekend. It was fine, Rufus thought, but he much preferred their towering residence in the sky to this sprawling stone villa on the ground.

He had made his way through every room of the small mansion. Every servant's quarter, every bathroom, every nook and cranny. And then he had made his way over the grounds, in that cold, analytical way that so unnerved every one who knew or served him.

He spent two days looking. At the end of those two days he found his father, not the object of his initial search but an adequate source of information all the same. At the time his father had been younger, slim and handsome, a close approximation of the man Rufus himself would grow to be. President Shinra was holding court in the game room of the villa, executives gathered on leather armchairs. The smell of cigar smoke wafted down the hallways and out the windows, intermingling with the low murmurs of business being conducted.

"Where is mother," Rufus had asked, but it was more a statement then anything else. His voice was clear over the din of business, and there was silence as every one turned to regard him.

"Didn't any one tell you?" his father asked. "She went to Costa del Sol to get some sun."

Rufus didn't push, and soon the murmurs of business filled the room again. The small child turned and left. Over the next week no one would say anything to him. No one would say anything about his mother. His mother, whose clothing and luggage were still in her room, where they would remain until someone would remember to throw them out months later. It was as though she had never existed.

Rufus went back to his room. A small "meow" greeted him as he walked in, a small bundle of fur curled up on his bed. He gathered the kitten in his arms as he sat down on the bed.

"This is for you, Rufus," his mother had said, depositing the baby panther in his arms. She had seemed sad. Worried, maybe. "He'll be here to protect you, if I can't."

But that had been a week ago. Rufus buried his face in the cat's black fur as he looked out the window, contemplative. The cat looked up at him with curious, gold-green eyes.

"I guess it's just us now, Dark Nation."

* * *

Reno flicked the last two switches, hand a firm grip on the shaft as he lowered his helicopter onto Shinra's landing dock. He could smell the ocean from here, sharp and salty below him, churning white near the edge of the beach. Military grunts were waving flags to direct him, but now they were running towards the helicopter, no doubt eager to get the post-flight maintenance done before the next vessel came in.

Reno hopped out of the helicopter in one smooth, languid motion, pushing his goggles back up in his hair as he made his way to the entrance of the building. Junon. Operation Baby-sitter. If he could be anywhere in the world right now, it would be anywhere but here.

While the Turks took up quite a few floors in Midgar's Shinra Towers, official headquarters was its own wing at Shinra's Junon base, separate from the rest of the base save for one connecting corridor. Turk headquarters was where Reno headed now. Orders had come from Tseng just as Reno had come off of a mission with a new recruit. One of his, and he was more than happy with how she was coming along. And than Tseng had had to call him, had to tell him that the next shift was his. Because all Reno needed was a month with Rufus Shinra.

Three years. Three years since he had become a Turk, and Rufus had barely looked at him in all that time. Like he was nothing. And, worse yet, Reno still thought about the bastard whenever he jerked off.

Room 408. Reno only paused for a moment outside the door before swiping his keycard and letting himself in. Only to pause in shock at the state of the room.

"What. The. Hell." The door clanged shut behind him.

Rude looked up from where he was sitting at a kitchen island, cappuccino cup in hand. "Why they keep partnering us together, I will never know. Gotta talk to HR about it or something."

Reno didn't even bother to make his usual comment about how Rude loved being partnered with him and knew it. "I was told Rufus was under house arrest."

"He is."

"Confined to one room."

"Generally, yeah."

"What the hell kind of room is this?" Reno asked, not surprised when the end of his sentence actually echoed.

Rude shrugged. "Think it used to be an auditorium or something."

This was ridiculous. Reno had imagined Rufus locked up in a small twelve-by-twelve room, his laptop the only thing to keep him company through the long days. On some level, he had even felt sorry for the guy, despite their history together. Instead, Rufus had a huge loft to himself. The room had to be two stories high. There was a kitchen bigger than Reno's apartment, a small gym set off from the main area with a glass wall, and a miniature jungle built right smack dab in the middle of everything for Dark Nation to lay around in. The far wall of the room was industrial glass and metal, giving an unobstructed view of cliff and ocean that most people would die for. There was a set of double doors open on the side of the room, and Reno guessed that that's where Rufus' room was.

"Want the rundown?" Rude asked, and Reno could only nod dumbly.

"The vice president," Rude said, pointing to the double doors.

"Your room." A small door just yards from where Rufus' was.

"My room." Another door, but this one closer to the entrance.

"Security cameras." Rude gestured up towards the kitchen cabinets, and Reno walked closer to see a string of five monitors attached to the wall. He could see Rufus sitting at a desk, drinking tea as he read something on a huge monitor. Rufus' room had been built into a split-level, a comfortable living areas downstairs and a sleek office upstairs, filled with all sorts of technology. "You can flip through three of these, but two are always on Rufus' room."

"And, most important of all, cappuccino machine," Rude said, pointing at an antique copper monstrosity.

"Clearly."

"The vp usually wakes up at 8. Reads all the newspapers. Lunch, then training and exercise. . . there's a gun range next door we can escort him to. Then he watches his machines until midnight, a break for dinner whenever he's hungry. Apparently they've gone all out in his office, access to every database and security camera they have. He pretty much knows everything that's going on in Shinra and in real time too."

"Figures. He tries to kill his dad and what does he get? Better opportunity to do it."

"Well, that's what we're here for, make sure he doesn't pull something like that again." Rude took another sip of his cappuccino. "You better report in with him."

"Doesn't that beat all. He's the prisoner, but we're still taking orders from him."

Rude shrugged, his next words uttered as though they explained everything. "He's our vice president."

Reno took slow steps towards Rufus' room. He hadn't seen Rufus since what happened at the mako reactor, when it came out Rufus had been plotting to kill his old man. They had been fighting Avalanche for so long, and then to find out Rufus had been funding Avalanch and even supplying them with information. . . and the worse part to Reno was his own reaction to situation.

"Sir, why are you doing this?" Like a loyal dog, whimpering at his master's betrayal. It made Reno want to throw up.

Reno had watched him later, all of them waiting to be transported away from the reactor. The green glow cast strange shadows over the planes of his face, a seething anger in his usually cold eyes. Anger at what, Reno wasn't sure, but it could have been a lot of things. Anger at Avalanche for turning on him. Anger at himself for not expecting it. Anger at failing.

Reno hadn't said anything else to the other man that night.

And now he was hesitating at the base of a spiral staircase, sure that Rufus had heard him come in, but not able to bring himself to climb up. But there was nothing for it, and at some point Reno decided he had been waiting there for too long, and started the trek upwards. When he got to the top he shifted uncomfortably, as Rufus' only acknowledgment wasn't an acknowledgment at all, only a slow sip from his tea cup.

"Sir," Reno finally said, "Reno reporting for duty."

A casual dismissal of his hand. Rufus was still looking at his monitor and hadn't even looked over at him, and Reno decided not to leave just yet. He had never seen Rufus like this, dressed only in a thin white t-shirt and track pants. The shirt clung to his body, smooth muscles filling out a slender frame. Those muscles flexed, however minutely, as he reached across the keyboard, a quiet power beneath the movements.

"Reno."

Reno's head snapped up at his name, looking into detached blue eyes. The fact that Rufus' attention was on him for the first time in three years wasn't lost on him, but the moment wasn't exactly what he had imagined.

"You may leave now."

Reno nodded, knowing the statement wasn't an option but an order. He turned and went back downstairs, letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He strode into the kitchen, grabbing a beer out of the refrigerator and plopping himself down at the kitchen island.

"What's the matter with you?" Rude asked, pouring himself another cappuccino from the machine.

Reno just shook his head.

* * *

"Tea?" Rufus asked, completely pleasant, as though this were a social visit. Although, Tseng supposed, in a way it was.

"I always thought you were a scotch man."

"The key is moderation." Rufus crossed his legs, took another sip. "You do realize that I'll have to report to the president than Veld has abandoned his position as the director of the Turks."

Tseng's eyes flashed, momentarily, before he stifled it. Instead he focused on the waves visible just outside Rufus' window, violent sprays against the almost vertical cliffside. Veld had been the man who had made Tseng who he was today. . . maybe he hadn't done such a good job, Tseng thought, because he felt as though the world was crumbling around him. But, no. That was no doubt a weakness on his part. "I understand."

"Really?" Rufus looked, for the moment, amused. "I wonder what my father will do. Will he put you in charge? Make you report to that imbecile Heidigger? If that ends up being the case, Tseng, I don't envy you. My father will also, undoubtedly, issue orders to find and kill Veld."

Tseng nodded slowly, hands clasped and knuckles white in his lap.

"What will you do then, Tseng?"

Tseng looked up. Rufus' eyes were cold, measuring, and he seemed as though he knew exactly what Tseng would do. "Mr. Vice President, I would never do anything to hurt Shinra Corp.'s interests."

Shock, for a second. "In that case, I overestimated you."

Tseng blinked several times, confused.

"You Turks," Rufus began, arm sweeping in a wide arch. "Do you really have no loftier goals then to serve my father, a man who day by day grows fatter in his gluttony? Stupider in his complacency? To go to such lengths for such a man."

"Sir, I don't think you understand. The Turks only exist to protect Shinra. Without that goal, what exactly are we?"

"I suppose that's the difference between the two of us." Rufus placed his cup back in its saucer, placed the saucer on his desk. He turned around, back to his monitor, and Tseng took the gesture for the dismissal that it was. He got up to leave, but Rufus had apparently changed his mind, speaking without turning forward to look at him. "When you disobey my father's orders and decide not to kill Veld, you'll be making an enemy of Shinra, of course. But he won't dare touch you. Not while you still have me."

"Yes, sir."

Tseng made his way down the stairs, feeling a little heavier with each step.

* * *

Reno could sense Tseng coming unraveled. It made him nervous, made him bouncy and twitchy and wanting to get out of Junon. Tseng had always been a constant in his life, ever since bailing him out the slums, and now he was coming apart.

"I'm sorry," Tseng had said to them once. "I've made you all enemies of the people you're supposed to protect."

"Hey, boss," Reno had said, "it's cool. It's not like we could have killed Veld, you know?"

But Tseng had only shaken his head. "It's not the kind of decision that Veld would have made."

Now that the Turks had decided to go against Shinra's commands and let Veld go, there was a big void in all of their lives. No Shinra. No Turks. No missions. Just Junon, just headquarters, just Rufus. Reno didn't mind doing babysitting duty now, not so much anyway. Missions really were far and few between, now that they were on their own. If he wasn't pulling duty with Rufus he was wondering through the halls in headquarters, and the bed in Rufus' room was a lot more comfortable than the cots they used in the dorms. He didn't even mind that Rufus spent most of the time he was there ignoring him. Rufus ignoring him meant he didn't have to feel self-conscious about following the other man around, lounging in Rufus' couch while he monitored Shinra's business, sitting on a nearby bench while he threw jabs at a punching bag.

"You were going to kill us," Reno had said one day, a bottle of whisky in his hand while Rufus typed some kind of memo on his laptop, both of them out in the communal living area. He was referring, of course, to that day at the mako reactor.

Rufus hadn't even looked up. "You were interfering with my plans."

"You were going to kill me."

"I'm genuinely sorry," he had said, sounding anything but. "Now can we please move past it?."

Reno had tried getting out before, going to Costa del Sol for some incognito kind of vacation. He had ended up running into Reeve Tuesti, the encounter leading to a high-speed foot chase through sunlit streets and plazas. The older man had been quicker than a middle-aged executive should be, and had actually caught up with him by the Font de Ledesma.

"Reno," he had said, "I want to talk with Rufus."

"I don't know what you're talking about, yo."

"I know he's not on some extended business trip. Reno, where is he?"

But Reno had managed to twist away and off into a side street, finally losing Reeve about a mile later. After that he had pretty much stuck to Junon.

He didn't mind Junon. He didn't mind Rufus. He would have felt a little pathetic about being so fixated on a man who had never been anything but cruel to him, but it's not like Reno gave a fuck about something like that. He didn't have that kind of pride, and more often than not he found himself in that bed late a night, his cock in his hand and the knowledge that Rufus was just on the other side of the wall. It would be some small scrap of contact from that day that would set him off. Rufus' arm reaching over his arm for the newspaper. Rufus' eyes, blue flames as he deigned to tell Reno some new piece of corporate intrigue. And Reno would come, dirtying the sheets and wondering how long this was going to last.

* * *

It was four am. There was a noise coming from out in the living room, voices and static, and Reno got up to see what was going on. He and Tseng were on duty that night, and when Reno came out he saw that Tseng and Rufus were there, sitting at the kitchen island with a cell phone on speaker in between them.

It irked Reno to some small degree. As far as he could tell Rufus and Tseng had never been particularly chummy before. For whatever reason, Rufus only interacted with other members of the company for as much as he had to. But over the course of his confinement, Rufus had seemed to take Tseng in as kind of a confidante. What exactly was it about Tseng, Reno wondered, that made him so preferable?

The cell phone buzzed, a voice fading in and out, and Reno recognized it as Kora, one of the Turks they had recruited a little bit before confining Rufus.

"- test subjects from the mansion got away, I couldn't stop them."

"What do you mean by that?" Tseng asked. "How did you let them get away?"

"I couldn't help it. One of them was Zack."

Tseng's eyes widened, a look so full of shock and emotion passing over his face that Reno found himself almost scared. But then it was gone, fleeting, though Tseng had still not brought himself to say anything.

"Sir, hold on, I have to go check on something."

The cell phone fizzled out as the call was cut off, and Tseng hadn't moved an inch.

"Boss?" Reno asked, and when Tseng looked up his expression was completely calm, though his skin was pale.

"He was dead. He died in Nibelheim."

"Tseng. . . " Rufus' voice was almost hesitant. "If Shinra finds him, they'll kill him."

Tseng only nodded.

"Boss. . ." But Reno didn't know what else to say, didn't know the history behind this one, didn't know what was going on inside Tseng's head.

"If they're leaving Nibelheim," Rufus finally said, breaking the silence, "they may head to Midgar. You might be able to find them before Shinra."

Tseng nodded again.

"I can track troop movements from here," Rufus said. "Go with Reno, and I'll tell you where they're heading."

"Yes, sir. Reno, let's go."

They made their way to the launchpad, Reno hopping into the pilot's seat of one of their helicopters. It was suddenly awkward, all that silence in that cramped space, and he was never more glad than when his earpiece buzzed to life, Rufus' voice coming from the other end.

"The troops in the area seem to be mobilizing towards the desert. I'll read off general coordinates as they come in."

"Yes, sir."

Reno flew the bird into the stretch of sand and space between Nibelheim and Midgar. Every so often Rufus' voice would come through the earpiece with coordinates, a distant echo in their ears. But mostly it was thick, heavy silence, tempered only by the buzzing of the earpiece. Reno could sense more than see Tseng scanning the ground for any signs of life, and he tried to do the same, but the desert itself didn't seem to want to corporate. As time stretched on, the sand and wind became angrier, stirring up small clouds and tornados. Visibility was decreasing, and Reno could hear the course stuff getting stuck in the machinery.

"I have to land," he said, words heavy with apology, muffled in even his ears. As they settled down to wait out the storm, all they could hear was sand and static.

"He's a good soldier," Reno finally said, anything to break that awful silence. He didn't know Zack, save for a few missions they had worked on together, but he had always seemed like one of the decent ones.

"He's a good soldier," Tseng agreed, his voice not really there, "and he's a good man. A better man than me. It's no wonder. . . Aerith chose him over me."

Reno fixed his gaze on some distant point outside his side window, wanting to give Tseng some privacy even in the tiny space they currently shared.

The sand storm lasted an hour, and Reno had barely gotten the helicopter back into the air when Rufus' voice came over the line.

"Shinra found him. Tseng. . . I'm sorry."

* * *

Rufus could hear Tseng outside the door, and he poured a glass of scotch in preparation. Tseng came in, and he could have been sleepwalking to the kitchen, slumping down on a stool there. Rufus placed the glass in front of him, and Tseng took it automatically before raising it to his mouth. When he finally spoke it was a statement of regret.

"I've made so many mistakes in my life." His voice was slow, almost contemplative.

"Tseng," Rufus said, in a voice that was almost cruel. "You are a Turk. If you ever want to be some one great, if you ever want to stand on the same level as Veld, you have to stop letting your emotions dictate your life. You once said that a Turk's life was meaningless without Shinra to protect. In that case, stop living for yourself and start living for the company."

Tseng blinked up at him several times, face void. "Yes, sir."

Rufus left him then, turning back to go to his room. As he closed the door Tseng was still sitting in the kitchen, staring at some point past the glass of scotch in his hand.

Rufus frowned as he got into his bed. Tseng's emotions had been clear as day on his face. Guilt and grief and nothing else. Two emotions, Rufus found, that he was having trouble connecting with. Somehow, it disturbed him. To see some one mourn another life so completely. Rufus tried to think back upon his own life. Had he ever mourned some one? Had he ever cried to realize that some one he cared about would never be able to say hello to him again?

Had he mourned for his mother? In the moment he realized the answer was no, Rufus suddenly felt more alone than he ever had before.

There was a knock on his door. Before he could say words like "come in" or "go away," the door was opening and Reno was peering in at him.

"Sir," he said, voice oddly quiet, "I just wanted to say thank you."

Rufus was bewildered. "For what?"

"For helping us. For helping Tseng try to find his friend."

Rufus nodded, still not understanding completely. He had only helped, he told himself, on a whim. But Reno's eyes were a strange amber color as they looked at him, and Rufus was feeling lonely.

"Reno. Come here."

Without so much as a protest Reno shut the door and walked towards Rufus, hesitantly placing one leg, and then another, on his bed as he leaned towards him. Such a contrast from the man he had first met in the Blue Room, but Rufus was surprised to find this kind of obedience wasn't unattractive to him. His fingers laced in Reno's hair as he pulled the other man forward, gently, lips meeting in a deep, hungry kiss. Reno's hands wrapped themselves into the fabric of his shirt, too tight, and Rufus loosened them so he could pull their bodies together.

Reno was so warm. He had always been warm, Rufus remembered, body hot and needy to the touch even if Reno's words protested otherwise. Rufus pulled his lips away from Reno's insistent kisses, moving instead to kiss and suck a trail down Reno's neck. He wanted to taste him. Wanted the taste of salt and skin, wanted to feel that the man was actually there. That someone was there, tangible and real.

Sternum, nipples, and abdomen. . . and then Rufus took Reno's cock into his mouth, sucking and teasing the hard flesh. Reno's breath hitched, his back arched, and his hands were featherlight touches on Rufus's hair.

Soon after, Rufus made a space for himself in between Reno's legs, hand reaching down to guide his cock into Reno's hole. He eased himself into the other man, watching Reno's eyes close and mouth open in unadulterated pleasure. It felt so good, too good, tighter even than he remembered, and he leaned forward to bite and suck on Reno's neck as he thrust in and out.

"You belong to me," he said, not knowing what possessed him to say it, "always. No one else is allowed to touch you."

"Yes, sir." A moan, more than anything else, and Rufus reached in between them to tug Reno to completion. It didn't take long before he felt Reno jerk, felt something sticky spill over his hand and fingers, and he soon followed, seed emptying out into the other man.


	2. Status Quo

Reno woke up spooned against a strong backside, arms around another man's waist. He quickly removed himself, half afraid of what Rufus would do if he found them in such an intimate position. Sex was one thing, but cuddling was quite another, and Rufus had never struck him as the type of person who would enjoy the latter.

But Reno felt extremely sated. He had wanted this for so long. He never had found any one who fucked him half as good as Rufus Shinra, so last night's turn of events was a very pleasant surprise. He had found Rufus' declarations of possession to be an added bonus. There must be something sick in his head, Reno decided, if he got turned on by being treated like some one's property. But he was a Turk. They were all pretty fucked up, in one way or the other. Besides, he wasn't taking anything Rufus did or said last night too seriously. The man was mercurial at best, and had seemed to be in an odd mood the night before. Reno guessed they all were in odd moods, heightened as they were on emotions.

He could see his pants on the floor and he reached for them, fumbling for that familiar pack.

"If you want to smoke," came Rufus' voice, still clouded with sleep, "do it out in the hallway. It's a disgusting habit."

"Sure thing, Mr. Vice President."

Feeling more chipper than he ever had at seven in the morning, Reno slung on his pants and shirt and made his way out to the hallway, lighting his cigarette along the way. Worry clouded his features for a moment as he looked at Tseng's door, but he knew the other man would pull through. He was Tseng, after all.

Reno was smoking outside when Rude came walking up, a large brown bag slung under his arm.

"Yo," Reno said, "what's up?"

"Just here taking over for Tseng. He left about an hour ago."

"Yeah?" Reno thought about the closed door in the room. "Did he say how long he'd be gone?"

Rude shrugged. "He said not too long. Just needed to take care of a few things."

"He seemed okay?"

"He seemed fine." Rude took off his sunglasses, narrowed his eyes. "What's going on here, Reno?"

"Nothing, yo."

Rude sighed. "And they say I'm the quiet one."

Rude opened the door and headed into the kitchen. After flicking the rest of his cigarette to the floor and stomping it out, Reno followed him. "So what's for breakfast?"

"This new health food place just opened in Junon. Franchise from out of Midgar. Something like. . . Dill's Delectables?"

"Uh huh."

"You heard of it?"

Reno smiled, heading towards the pantry. "You could say that. I think I'll stick to cereal for the day."

Rufus came out of his room then, impeccably put together in his standard white suit.

"Mr. Vice President, sir," Rude greeted.

"Rude." Rufus nodded, sitting down in front of the thick stack of newspapers Tseng had no doubt placed there before he left. As he picked up the first one Rude placed a plate of cakes in front of him, and he absently placed one in his mouth without even looking at it. Reno, who had been watching carefully, was deeply satisfied to see Rufus' skin take on a decidedly green color before he schooled it into its normal tone. Rufus placed the cake back onto the plate without another word, and promptly ignored it. Surprisingly, Rude was scarfing down Dill's food just fine.

"I think I'll read in my room," Rufus said, gathering the papers under one arm and leaving. After he left, closing the door behind him, Reno took over his seat and beamed up at Rude.

"Why are you so damned happy today?" Rude asked, eyes suspicious.

Reno only grinned back in answer.

* * *

Rufus, Reno learned, liked to have sex in the shooting range. It was usually empty except for them, and Rufus liked to bend him over that metal partition and take him from behind, moans and noises amplified by the empty acoustics of the large, narrow room.

It made Reno wonder, sometimes, exactly how many other people Rufus had done this with before.

* * *

It was an intimate moment. Naked and sweaty, cooling off during one of their more-frequent-as-late after hours sessions, sheets swirls between them. Reno would have lit up a cigarette if it weren't for the fact that Rufus would almost certainly kick him out of bed for it.

"Hey," he said, half asleep and counting sheep above his head, "what's with knocking off the old man anyway? He's going to make you president someday, isn't he?"

"He killed my mother." A casual admittance, but the heaviness of it settled like a weight on Reno's stomach. "It seemed like killing him was the thing to do."

* * *

"Reno." Rude was nursing one of his goddamned cappuccinos again, and Reno wondered if the the other Turk had been the one to ask for that stupid machine in the first place.

"Yeah?" he said, around a mouth full of cereal.

Rude's eyes were strangely serious as they narrowed down on him, almost worried. "Reno. You fucking the vp?"

Reno could feel the milk shoot out of his mouth in surprise, but the only sound he heard was a "tsk tsk"ing noise from Rude's general vicinity.

* * *

Tseng came back to Turks HQ after a few weeks, all business as usual, and no one had asked him where he had gone. Still, he spent most of his time in his own room or out in the world outside, and the rumor going around was that he was looking for Veld.

He finally came back to Rufus' room a few months after that, and Reno and Rude went with him. Two other Turks had been keeping watch over the vp, and Reno had the suspicion that Rufus had been the one to call Tseng over. It irked him a little bit as Tseng disappeared into Rufus' room, door closing behind him, and he and Rude went to sit in the living room with Kora and Jin.

"How's baby-sitting going?" Reno asked, quick to make himself comfortable on the couch.

Jin shrugged. "Boring. Beats just hanging around headquarters, though."

"At least the beds are soft here," Kora said, Reno nodding in agreement.

Tseng spent almost two hours in there, Reno checking his watch more and more frequently as the time went off. It pissed him off that those two were off plotting something, pissed him off that no one else was included in their little brainstorming session. But Rufus finally came out, followed by Tseng. All of them perked up a little, sat up a little straighter, as Tseng came to address them.

"We've received information," Tseng explained, "that Shinra is holding Veld in Midgar. We will be using Rufus to get him out. At twenty-two hundred hours, Reno and Kora, you will be transferring Rufus to the landing pad above Shinra Towers, where two SOLDIERs will intercept him. At o-eight hundred hours three days from now, they will release Veld to us outside the Midgar gates."

There was silence for awhile, the more rookie Turks not even daring to say anything, but then Rude's cough was breaking.

"With all due respect, boss," Rude said, "once the vice president is back, President Shinra will kill us."

"It's the best deal they would give us," Tseng replied. "Jin, Reno, Rude, you will be coming with me to receive Veld. Prepare for the worse and be on your toes. Although there is the potential that President Shinra may be convinced not to make any rash decisions."

Reno's eyes flickered to Rufus with the last comment, but the young vice president was as unreadable as always.

"I'll go get the helicopter ready," Reno said, brushing off his pants as he got up.

He was doing the last of the check on his bird when Tseng and Kora came up to the pad, Rufus in between them. He watched as Kora jumped into the back and as Rufus turned towards Tseng. He started up the helicopter blades.

"Remember where your loyalties are supposed to lie," was the only thing Rufus said to Tseng, and Tseng nodded. Rufus then climbed aboard the helicopter and took his seat next to Reno. They were lifting off then, airborne, making the trip to Midgar in silence.

Shinra Tower rose up out of barren wasteland, and Reno felt a pang of longing as he saw it. Midgar was his home. Shinra Tower was his home, the place the Turks would go back to as the regular employees would leave, and he had been away for so long.

They landed on that familiar pad, a landing Reno had made countless times before, and he was cutting off the engines. He climbed out to open the door for Rufus, and the vice president stepped out of the helicopter and into the cool air of Midgar above plate.

"Rufus," Reno started, the name foreign on his tongue after so many years of non-use. "You're not going to let them kill us, are you?"

Rufus stared at him for a moment. "No. Not this time."

Reno didn't really believe him. But he figured if Shinra was going to go after him now, he might as well make his moments count. His hands twisted in Rufus' coat, pulling the other man towards him, and then their lips were clashing together in a frantic, urgent kiss. He could feel one of Rufus' hands tangle in his hair, the other reaching around to rest on his lower back, a position surprisingly intimate. He pulled away when he heard the door leading out to the pad open, two SOLDIERs coming out, and he jumped back into the helicopter. Kora was desperately trying not to look in his direction, her cheeks a furious red, but then he had the helicopter up and ready to rendez-vous with Tseng.

* * *

Rufus didn't know how long it had been since he had been to the countryside. His limo rode past rolling, green hills and grazing chocobos, and Rufus almost felt a sense of homecoming. But he had always disliked the countryside, had stopped going as soon as he was old enough to defy his father. The limo rolled to a stop outside the gates of what looked to be a cemetery, peaceful and shaded with elm trees and shrubbery.

His door clicked as some one opened it for him, and he got out to walk towards a distant, cloaked figure.

"You're a hard man to get a hold of," Reeve Tuesti said to him, pulling his coat closer together as they fell into step. It was fall. The seasons were something Rufus had never been able to get used to when he was outside Midgar, the golden and red leaves of the trees strangely disconcerting to him.

"Duty calls," Rufus replied. "Why did you want to meet with me, Reeve? And why here, of all places?"

"It's peaceful here," Reeve replied, but he didn't answer Rufus' first question just yet. Instead, they walked down the cobblestone path in silence, enjoying the fresh air.

"You know," Reeve finally said, "I've known you since you were five. And I always thought you would grow to be a better man than your father."

Rufus scoffed at that. "As though that fact wasn't plain to see."

Reeve ignored him. "It's hard to believe that you were once a child once. Scared and clinging onto that kitten, determined not to show it."

Reeve stopped, and they turned to face an unmarked grave. It was small, nondescript, and as Rufus looked down at it he felt an emptiness tug at his stomach.

"You never did know what became of her," Reeve said, voice solemn. "I always felt bad for that. When you barged into your father's study, a little boy asking for his mother. . . it was heartbreaking."

"I found out," Rufus said, surprised to find his voice so small, "eventually."

"I thought you deserved to know where she was buried." Silence, stretching between them. "Rufus. . . I'm very interested in seeing you live up to your potential. Please, no more attempts on your father's life. One day you'll be the president. One day, the Turks, SOLDIER, me, we'll all be working for you. It would be wise to start cultivating us as assets, instead of seeing us as your father's tools."

"As though I need you to tell me that," Rufus replied, but he realized he had only recently started seeing things that way. He could hear Reeve walk away, and he was grateful for it. His legs had gone weak, and he kneeled down in front of the unmarked grave. His cheeks felt suspiciously wet.

He wished that he had brought flowers.

* * *

Fuck. Shit. Reno was livid as he made his way to the executive floors of Shinra Tower. Other workers didn't even dare get in his way, anger coming off of him in waves. He hadn't believed it, was still in shock.

"The Turks will be allowed to come back to Shinra," that god damned SOLDIER had said, "if they carry out their orders to execute Veld."

And Tseng had done it. Tseng had fucking done it. Reno remembered the moment that had passed then, a moment that had seemed to stretch into time. Tseng had looked into Veld's eyes, and Veld had smiled, nodded. And then he was dead.

Rude and Jin had been as shocked as he was, but Reno was the first one to move, to race towards headquarters, because he knew that Rufus was behind this. He knew that Rufus had been the one to reinstate the orders to kill Veld.

He all but crashed into Rufus' office, the blond man barely even looking up at him.

"What the fuck kind of game are you playing at?" Reno yelled. "What have these last three years together even been about?"

"Reno." The coldness in his voice was enough to drain Reno's rising anger, made him freeze in his spot. "Veld knew too many company secrets."

"You could have let him go," Reno said, but his voice lacked the power that it held just moments ago. "You know he wouldn't have said anything to anyone."

Rufus stood, getting out of his chair to walk towards Reno. His close proximity made Reno shiver a little, made him start as Rufus took a limp wrist in his hand. When Rufus spoke, his voice was almost gentle. "Reno. Tseng did what he had to do as a Turk. The loyalty of a Turk is always to the company. It is absolute, unwavering. It is not something that can flicker and sway in the face of human emotion. Veld understood that from the beginning, he expected to die for his decision, and now Tseng understands it too."

Reno nodded dumbly.

"You'll understand, one day."

Some one was knocking on the door then, and one of the executives was coming into the room.

"Vice President Shinra, the Turks are back."

Rufus nodded. "Come, Reno."

They made their one down to the lobby of the executive level, a large, pristine space. Several of the other Turks were there. Cora, Jin, Rude, and that new girl, Elena. And, leading them, Tseng, his eyes vibrant with some new kind of conviction.

"Mr. Vice President. Tseng and the Turks, reporting for duty."

Reno felt a pang of jealousy, seeing some semblance of emotion strong in Rufus' eyes as he shook Tseng's hand. It was rare to see, and it was certainly something that Rufus had never seen fit to cast Reno's way. Respect.

"Welcome back, Tseng."

Tseng bowed, like a knight come back to royal court. "The same to you, sir."


	3. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The weapons and Sephiroth have been defeated, thanks in part to Rufus, who had fired the cannon to dissipate the barrier that surrounded the North Crater. But now Shinra's president is in critical condition, and the Turks have nothing to do but hold out hope.

Reno couldn't even bring himself to light a fucking cigarette. He just kept taking them out of the pack, turning them over, putting them back in. He couldn't stand the smell of the air here, some dizzying scent coming off from the lifestream rivers that were now receding. It was all jungle and grass huts out here, advanced medical techniques his ass.

A helicopter was landing in the field outside town, and he could see the grass blades spiral outwards from his perch on one of the elevated huts. He could see Elena and Tseng getting out, just barely, two small figures in the distance. They were somber by the time they got into town, Reno waiting for them at the gates.

"Any luck?" he asked, and Tseng shook his head no.

Shinra's administrative centers were in shambles. It made it near impossible to find executives, workers, Turks, and military members alike. Added to the confusion was the fact that many of those people were dead, and others still had abandoned the company in the looming apocalypse.

"But we found a place we can move Rufus to," Elena said. "When he gets stable."

If, Reno thought, not when.

"Halfway between Midgar and the Chocobo Farm. It's nice, quiet, lots of fresh air. We can build a little place for him, get some of the best doctors to come out."

Reno nodded, but he wasn't holding out hope. He never had been much of an optimist. But they would do what they needed to do, until Rufus either woke up or died.

He shivered at the thought. He had been elated, once. Running into Shinra Tower with Rude and Elena, his heart had dropped to see the building in ruins like that. But Tseng had been there waiting for them. Tseng, who he thought was dead, and hope sprang eternal and all that shit. They had raced up the stairways together, all four of them, pulling aside rubble and fixtures that were barely recognizable. And Rufus had been there, breathing, but just barely, and Reno's heart had caught in his throat as they carried him out and onto the helicopter.

But as the days had dragged on with no changes to Rufus' condition, initial happiness had given away to something else. A quiet kind of desperation, maybe, and then a mute despair, and then nothing really at all.

He walked into the hut that they were keeping Rufus in. Bandages wrapped around his ribs, nursing the lacerations, newly free of infection, found underneath. His arm was bandaged in a large splint, and half his face was still purple and yellow, those ugly colors of a vengeful bruise. The rest of his face was pale, like the rest of his body. Reno came closer, sitting down beside his president. More worrying, veins of black had started stretching out over Rufus' wrist, looking as though they wanted to claim his whole arm.

Reno traced over the patterns they formed. The disease people were calling geostigma. Opinion was divided as to whether it was contagious or not, but Reno didn't particularly care.

His fingers left Rufus' wrist, and he walked back to the room that he shared with Rude.

Later that night, laying in just his boxers in a humidity that reminded him of below plate, Reno was glad to have a momentary distraction in the form of his cell phone beeping. He flipped it open to read a message there, courtesy of Hedge.

"You dead yet?" The message read. "Can I have your stereo system?"

Reno chuckled, for a second taken out of the circumstances. "No chance. You in Midgar?"

"Edge, man. Starting fresh."

Reno tossed the phone beside him and fell asleep.

The next day Reno awoke to a flurry of activity. Or, at least, what constituted a flurry of activity in a backwater town like this. Rude was back, bringing with him a familiar figure. Reno watched as Tseng met him at the front gate.

"Reeve," Tseng said, reaching out to shake his hand. "Thank you for coming."

Reeve stayed with them for three nights. Mostly he talked with Tseng, and Reno wondered how much the two men could possibly have to discuss. He guessed they were talking about the future of the world, maybe. The future of Shinra. if there was a Shinra to speak of.

On Reeve's third night there, Rufus woke up. Elena had come running into the communal dining area, calling Tseng's name like a chant. It happened so fast Reno wasn't sure what was going on, but once he realized he was running after them, only to get shut out of the room while Tseng and Reeve went inside. He waited for what seemed like hours, Rude and Elena with him. Then they were coming out, a sense of hesitant relief on their features.

"Rude, Elena," Tseng said, "we have plans to discuss. Reno, please watch President Shinra."

Reno nodded, not able to get into the room fast enough. But once he was there, he wasn't sure what to say. Rufus was sitting up on the bed, arms limp by his side, eyes closed and head tilted back. Reno saw a mostly empty glass of water beside him, and he moved forward to refill it. Afterwards he sat down in one of the chairs that had been placed by the bed, shifting several times before finding a position that wasn't uncomfortable.

"We thought you were dead," Reno said, finally.

"Yes," Rufus agreed. "So did I."

Reno leaned forward, reaching out to touch his wrist again. He just wanted to feel him. Make sure he was actually there.

"Shinra certainly made a mess of things," Rufus said, eyes opening. They were contemplative, soft. "I never imagined that it would have come to this."

"What are we going to do?"

"Rebuild," Rufus said, simply. He closed his eyes again, and Reno supposed, he must be tired. "But we'll discuss that tomorrow. All five of us. You, me, Tseng. . . Rude and Elena. My father built Shinra from nothing, with his own hands. I don't see any reason we can't do better."

Reno nodded.

"Reno," Rufus started, his voice taking on an uncharacteristic turn. "I'm sorry. For everything. Anything."

Reno's mind spiraled back in time. All the years they had known each other. Together, apart, through the violence and imprisonment and want and need. But he wouldn't be the man he was today if it hadn't been for meeting Rufus, that much Reno knew. "Don't worry about it, Mr. President."

Rufus nodded, and his fingers moved to wrap around Reno's own. But his eyes were still closed, and soon his breathing evened out to sleep.

They left Mideel four days later. Left the grass huts, easy-going doctors, and wild chocobos, to the place that Reeve had christened Healinn Lodge. There were still a million concerns to take care of, a million things that could go wrong, but for now, Reno wasn't worried.

Rebuild. It had such a nice ring to it.


End file.
